Making Out At McDonald's

First off, since this is the final day of 2008, I would like to wish you and yours a very healthy, happy and safe 2009! May your new year be filled with joy, hope, laughter, peace - and lots of writing!

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Yesterday, after a busy afternoon of running around to two different banks (mine and my mom's), attempting to go pay my next semester's tuition (the school had closed about two hours before I got there), and to a busy grocery store to do the weekly grocery shopping, my mom and I decided to stop at McDonalds for a late lunch.

We opted on going through the drive-thru because, well let's face it, we don't particularly like going inside. So, we got in line.

Thankfully the bulk of the work they had been doing to the drive-thru (a huge new speaker sign thingy - note the technical term used), as well as the inside drive-thru area, and quite possible more of the inside (they have had only drive-thru available at this particular location for about a month or so), things seemed to be back to normal.

In line, there are two cars in front of me. The car at the speaker drove around to pay within thirty seconds of me getting in line. I wait a minute (maybe less, it's hard to tell when you are waiting - the time seems to drag on and take forever when in actuality, only a few seconds have passed). The car in front of me doesn't move.

I can see two figures in the front seat - one behind the wheel, the other on the other side. Well, she wasn't actually on the other side, more like closer to his side (the side with the steering wheel). They were making out. Yes, in the drive-thru line with not only myself, but at least two or three cars behind me. Making. Out.

I honked the horn and they tore apart very quickly. I'm sure the would much rather have continued doing what they were doing, however, I was hungry. It seemed to take forever for them to put their order in. I'm sure the driver's mind wasn't working properly after having been playing tonsil hockey for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, they drive on through.

I place our orders and pulled ahead. Things were a little slow again since the first window (where you normally pay) was closed and you had to drive on to the second one. I guess the couple in the car from Quebec must have gotten bored and it became make out time again. Thankfully they were a little more on the ball this time and didn't hold the rest of us up again.

Hmmm...could make for an interesting scene in a novel or short story...

The whole thing was comical, at least in my mind. Who would have thought the drive-thru line at McDonald's would be someones's "choice" make-out location. Aren't those places usually far away from all the lights and noise, up on a dark cliff overlooking the town with the full moon rising above the horizon? But then it is the 21st century. I guess the times are a-changin'.

Random Things

Tara, over at Tara's View of the World, tagged me with the Six Random Things Meme the other day. I am only getting around to posting this now...

Here are the rules if you get tagged...
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here are my six things...

1. I hate cheese...except to have it on pizza, lasagna or sprinkled on spaghetti. I don't know why I hate it, because I remember eating it as a kid. Maybe I ate too much of it and got sick of it.

2. I am right handed, yet it's been pointed out to me that I shuffle cards using my left hand. Maybe I'm a little ambidextrous.

3. I can't sleep with the blankets tucked in, otherwise I feel trapped. It's not too bad if they are tucked in at the end of the bed, but if that's the case, the blankets still have to be somewhat loose.

4. I would love to adopt a baby girl from China.

5. I've been inside two pyramids.

6. I've seen King Tut's mummy in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt.

Now, I don't think six people read this blog anymore (sob!) so whoever does read this and wants to take part, feel free to do so!

And on that note, I would like to wish everyone out there a very merry Christmas filled with the remembrance of why we celebrate this holiday - the birth of Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour.

That's Not Even A Colour!

The small classroom was filled to nearly overflowing, with twenty students, their teacher, a T.A., myself, and several of the children's parents. Extra chairs were brought in, tables moved and adjusted, clutter cleaned up. It was Mug & Muffin day at the school where I do my observation.

The parents came in to enjoy coffee and muffins while they observed the class to see what the kids were learning in school. This particular day, they observed language arts. The children were continuing with their lesson on writing.

The object was to think of something that had happened to them and had only taken a few minutes to happen. The children would expand on the situation by writing descriptions and whatnot to make it seem like their situation took longer than a few (or even several) minutes. Earlier in the week, their teacher had read a story to them in which the author described a something that had happened to the main character, but had actually only taken a few minutes.

"Remember how the situation really didn't last too long? The author used a lot of adjectives to describe things in order to expand the writing; so it seemed like what happened to the boy in the story took a long time."

The children were sent back to their tables (where parents were still sitting and observing) with the objective of thinking of something they had experienced which only lasted a few minutes. They were to draw a picture of the situation, then write lots of descriptions and explanations of what happened.

I sat to the side, observing the class...students, teacher, parents. My main goal was to observe the teacher and the classroom, however. Parents talked among themselves, several read previous stories written by their children, and downed more coffee and muffins.

A curly-headed boy made his way over to my table to get some paper for his story.

"What are you going to write about?" I smiled.

"Ummm, something about my cat."

"What colour is your cat?" I asked, attempting to build rapport with him.

"It's a colour that starts with a 'B'." His looked at me, probably wondering why on earth I cared about the colour of his cat.

"Is it blue?"

"No! Cat's aren't blue!" He thought I was crazy, no doubt.

"Umm, brown?"

"Nope."

"Oh, I know! Your cat is burgundy!" I grinned.

"No way! That's not even a colour! My cat is black!" He giggled and ran back to his table.

A Meme

Vader's Mom had this posted on her blog and I thought I'd do the same.

1.Do you like cheese? No, though I do eat it on pizza, lasagna, and the kind you sprinkle on spaghetti or put on a Caesar salad.
2.Have you ever smoked? No - I'm allergic.
3. Do you own a gun? No
4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Sometimes. I have to be in the mood. They are playing it all the time at work (and quite loud at times) and truthfully, the stuff they have chosen to play isn't all that great...the songs might be, but the versions are bad.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? doctor, not particularly; dentist, always
6. What do you think of hot dogs? They're ok.
7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? O Holy Night and O Come O Come Emanuel
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Chocolate Instant Breakfast or coffee sometimes
9. Can you do push ups? a few
10. Who is your favorite Grey’s Anatomy Character? McDreamy, of course!
11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? I usually only wear a watch.
12. Favorite hobby? knitting
13. Do you eat “exotic” foods? Not particularly
14. Do you have A.D.D.? No, but sometimes I wonder, lol.
15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? Procrastination
16. Middle Name? That's a secret...I'm not particularly fond of it though.
17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? "Waahhh, only one Guylian chocolate left", "Hope it doesn't storm tomorrow", "I don't feel tired yet but hopefully it won't take me too long to get to sleep tonight"
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Don't think I bought anything yesterday...
19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Diet Pepsi, water and occassionally coffee
20. Current worry right now? Nothing particular...maybe to get through Christmas without being too sad (this is the first Christmas since Dad died 4 months ago)
21. Current hate? I don't think I have any hates at the moment
22. Favorite place to be? at home
23. How will you bring in the New Year? Haven't got a clue.
24. Where would you like to go? Scotland and Israel
25. Name three people who will complete this? I don't know.
26. Do you own flip flops? Only one that I had to buy in Korea because my sandal broke while shopping in Seoul and I needed something quick...flip flops were the closest and cheapest shoes I could find at the time.
27. What shirt are you wearing? my pj shirt (and the bottoms too)
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Don't think I've ever slept on them
29. Can you whistle? a little
30. Favorite color? purple
31. Would you be a pirate? No.
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't sing in the shower
33. Favorite girl’s name? Ava, Anya, Rachel
34. Favorite boy’s name? Jack, Cameron, Russell, Samuel
35. What’s in your pocket right now? nothing
36. Last thing that made you laugh? conversation with Shaun
37. Bed sheets as a child? ones with little flowers...either that or plain
38. Worst injury you’ve ever had? sprained ankle, sprained wrist that also had a piece of the bone chip off.
39. Do you love where you live? It's pretty good
40. How many TV’s do you have in your house? Two
41. Who is your loudest friend? Not sure...
42. How many dogs do you have? None. I have a cat. I did have a dog back in the '80s though.
43. Does someone have a crush on you? I don't know
44. Do you get embarrassed easily? Sometimes
45. What is your favorite book? Piercing the Darkness, and This Present Darkness - both by Frank Perretti
46. What is your favorite candy? Milk chocolate, Swedish Berries
47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? Yes
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? "Finally Home" by Natalie Grant
49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night? Sleeping
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? That I needed to pray for my friend

Writing

Today is the last day of classes for me - well, until January. I'm on Christmas break now, and I'm thrilled to have a bit of a break. However, I will be working for a couple of weeks to make a bit of money.

I'm really hoping to get some focus during the break to work on my novel. Actually, I've done a little work on it tonight. I think, though, that I need to organize things some - maybe even go back to the start and read through what I have in order to help with a bit of direction. I know I should just write and when I'm done go back through it to make it "perfect", but I think in order to move ahead, I will need to review - not necessarily revise - and maybe work a little more on the charactor development.

So, what I would like to know from you, is this: how do you get direction in your writing? What do you do when you want to develop your characters more - make them more three dimensional as opposed to just two dimensional...how do you make your characters more 'real'?

A Link

There is a great series of posts (3 thus far) on flat scenes over at Word Strumpet. Very well worth checking out here.